Becky Shaull folds clothes at the Junior League Thrift Shop in York, which has been operated by the Junior League of York since 1952. A sign above the checkout counter lists community projects and organizations that profits from the shop have helped fund. (DAILY RECORD / SUNDAY NEWS PAUL KUEHNEL )

In 60 years, styles have gone from mod to disco to preppy to grunge and back again.

It's all come to York's Junior League Thrift Shop - on a journey from castoff to treasure, unwanted to needed.

Like each sweater, plate, watch, pocket book, album and suit sorted neatly on the shop's racks, every customer finds a different route through the door. Since 1952, the thrift shop has been a shared closet for both the affluent professional and the near-penniless.

It opened at 20 E. Market St. - 22 years after the Junior League of York was founded as a local women's organization to promote voluntarism and philanthropy. The thrift shop moved once, in 1977, to the first floor of 166 W. Market St. The league set up offices upstairs.

While the store's customers and merchandise vary daily, its mission - to use profits for community projects and organizations - is unchanged. A large placard above the checkout counter, which lists those agencies, is an ever-present reminder.

The staff

On a Tuesday morning in October, Marcy Bushey chatted with staff and greeted customers as she sorted tanktops and T-shirts.

Donations - like the large, black trashbag of clothes she shifted through - trickle into the thrift shop almost daily.

Chairs and desks in the staff area near the rear of the store are often empty. Staffers usually work straight through lunch.

Bushey is used to the pace from years as a retail manager in the West Manchester Mall.

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In 1999, she brought her work ethic and organizational skills to the thrift shop. As the store's retail manager, she's a paid employee, as are the co-manager and two part-time staffers.

When the shop first opened, every league member served a mandatory placement at the thrift shop. That policy has since changed, but unpaid league volunteers, including Rene Manzella and Jo-Ann Francois, fill out the rest of the work schedule.

Manzella moved to York County from Buffalo, N.Y., in the late '70s. A substitute teacher raising four kids at the time, she wasn't in her new home much. To meet new people, she joined local organizations, including the Junior League. As part of her training, she learned about York and its organizations. New members also had to choose a focus area.

"Mine was giving back to the community by clothing them reasonably," she said. "That's where my heart is. It's just a warm, fuzzy feeling."

In the '80s, she was chairwoman of the store committee. She used her seamstress skills to fix buttons and zippers. When the downtown York Bon-Ton closed, she and other volunteers rolled the clothing racks down the alley and installed them in the store. Her other responsibilities included running the shop schedule, creating window displays and occasional maintenance.

A mural featuring members of the Second Continental Congress, meeting in York to deliberate on the Articles of Confederation in 1777, is displayed on the side of the Junior League Thrift Shop and league offices at 166 W. Market St. in York. For details about more York murals, visit www.ydr.com/murals. (DAILY RECORD / SUNDAY NEWS PAUL KUEHNEL)

"(At) 1 a.m. in the morning we went in and put up crown molding to go with the décor," she said. "It was definitely hands-on."

When Francois, another transplant, relocated from California several years ago, she didn't know what the league was. By the shop's 50th anniversary in 2002, she was chairwoman.

"It's fun to see the disparity of people," she said. "We have the office girls coming from the courthouse to those who need the services and don't have the chance to get to the mall and other shopping areas. They know we get new merchandise every single day."

Old and new customers - and even league members - are often pleasantly surprised by what they find, she added.

A league member recently reminded Francois about the time she attended a meeting dressed head-to-toe in thrift merchandise, which totaled about $20. The $5 pair of boots she sported seemed to leave an impression on the room, Francois said.

The system

For as long as most of the members can remember, the shop has been open Monday through Saturday, with the exception of holidays and two times a year when the staff switches merchandise from spring/summer to fall/winter and back.

Gently used clothing and household items are accepted during shop hours - 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. - and can be dropped at the league offices. Workers check to make sure items are clean and relatively unwrinkled. Any items tarnished beyond simple repairs are donated to the York Rescue Mission, which stops by every Tuesday for pickups.

Items that pass inspection are tagged with a price and barcode, which is entered into a computer and tracked. If merchandise is out of season, it's stored or donated. The goal is to get donations onto racks as soon as possible. It defeats clutter, said Bushey, who runs a clean shop.

She can rattle off prices from memory. Tops, shoes and handbags are $5. Pants are $7. Blazers are $10. Prices for other items, including children's clothing, books, jewelry and household items, vary. During the holidays, the league runs a toy collection and sale with deep discounts.

Bushey said the shop has to strike a balance between selling clean, quality items and keeping prices low.

"We're very picky," she added. "We have to keep prices affordable for people (who) need it."

Once on the floor, merchandise has 60 days to sell. If it's still on the rack after that, it's donated.

The shop also features a consignment option. Consignors pay a $5 semi-annual fee to consign as many items per season as they choose. For every sale, they get forty percent and the store gets the rest.

"We have regulars (and) generations of families," Francois said of consignors. The same is true of customers, she added.

The sale

"We just don't know when items and customers will appear," Bushey said.

The amount the store makes varies from week to week, but it's usually hundreds of dollars. It's been a major source of revenue for the league since its inception. During the 1955-56 fiscal year, the shop earned $4,136.46 and became the backbone for the league. With the advent of other league fundraisers, including its speaker series, the shop no longer carries the organization.

But the community connection it creates can't be quantified. Bushey knows most consignors and customers by name and gets small gifts of cookies and fudge from some at Christmas.

She knows some customers' whole story, since some live in poverty and suffer from metal disabilities. She tries to make sure they take their medication and worries when she doesn't see some customers for a few days.

"You're almost like a social worker," she said.

As the city's population has changed, staffers have tried to adapt. "One thing I love is that I know a teeny bit of... Spanish," Manzella, 64, said during a recent interview. "I learned a couple new words today. (Customers) are just thrilled when they can speak to you in their language. I'll chime in. It's fun to keep (the conversation) going."

The joy of connecting a customer with what he or she needs keeps Francois, 55, coming back to volunteer every other Thursday.

"I worked there two weeks ago and we had a young gentleman come in to look for a suit for a job interview," she said. She directed him to the proper rack. When he pulled out a tux, she steered him toward a blazer paired with khakis. When she found out he couldn't tie a tie, she and the other staff looked it up online.

"You would have thought we were mother hens," Francois said with a laugh. "It's people like that you know you're really helping."

Online

For details about the Junior League of York and the Junior League Thrift Shop, visit www.jlyork.org.

The Junior League of York has sponsored an annual holiday toy sale for 40 years. The organization collects new and gently used toys and sells them at discounted rates. Proceeds benefit community projects and unsold toys are donated to the York Rescue Mission.

Donations for the sale will be accepted 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. through Friday at the Junior League Thrift Shop, 166 W. Market St., York, and noon to 7 p.m. through Friday at Asbury United Methodist Church, 340 E. Market St., York. All donations are tax deductible.

The sale is 8 to 11 a.m. Saturday at Asbury United Methodist Church.

Is the Thrift Shop haunted?

Logic and science can't explain away some of the strange things that happen at the Junior League Thrift Shop in York.

"With all this history, there had to be ghosts," said retail manager Marcy Bushey.

The shop is celebrating 60 years in York this year and 35 years at its current location, 166 W. Market St.

The space used to be a hardware store. Upper floors were broken into apartments. Bushey said that, around 2001, there were renovations upstairs, where the league offices are housed. That's when the trouble started.

Bushey said she heard loud bumps upstairs - one of which knocked out the lights - when she knew no one was there. No other buildings on the block seem to be affected. She felt unexplained tugs on her shirt while she was vacuuming one day and once saw a dark mist moving along an upper level hall.

Rene Manzella, a shop chairman-turned-volunteer, doesn't know if she believes in ghosts, even though she knows about strange taps on the shoulder and boxes inexplicably moving overhead.

Her daughter and a friend were painting upstairs once when a bathroom door kept slamming shut on its own - something it doesn't normally do. The next day, there was a streak of different colored paint on the door, which had been finished the previous night.

Bushey got fed up and called in a team of paranormal investigators. When that didn't stop the noises, she marched up the steps and called out into the empty rooms: "You need to knock this off."

After that, there have been fewer incidents. That has Bushey convinced that the spirit - or whatever it is - has no bad intentions.

Manzella said they call the ghost Aunt Jo - after a woman in a painting hung in the league headquarters. She's been told the lady is a former league president. That explains a female presence ghost hunters found, but it doesn't account for a male and child detected, she added.